Magneto for internal-combustion engines.



A. DURBIN. MAGNETO FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLIOATION FILEDIEB. 4, 1911.

' 1,022,832. Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

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ATTORNEYS APPLICATION FILED FEB-4, 1911.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

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A7TORNEY8 views.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED DURBIN, OF MOCQNNELSVILLE, OHIO.

- mnonn'ro FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED DURBIN, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of McOonnelsville, in the county of Morgan and State of Ohio,have invented a new and Improved Magneto for Internal-CombustionEngines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a magneto device to supply ignition current toignite the charges in the cylinders of an internal combustio-n engine.The main parts'of the magneto are attached directly to the fly-wheel ofthe engine, and are operated thereby, and they include certain novelfeatures of construct-ion, all of which will appear in the accompanyingdrawings and'be pointed out particularly in the claims appended hereto.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which the same characters of reference indicatethe same parts in all the Figure 1 is a front view, partly in section,of my magneto and the fiy-wheel in which the same is mounted, the planeof section be ing indicated by the line 1 1 on Fig. 2; Fig.

2- is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, part of thearmature structure being shown in elevation; Fig. 3 is a completesectiontaken on thesame plane as Fig. 2;"

and Fig. 4 is a complete view of the connections .from'the magneto tothe igniters.

In all the views I show a magneto for a' four-cylinder engine. 7

In practice I prefer to arrange my magneto Within the rim of thefiy-wheel of an engine, thus saving the space that would be occupied bya separate magneto, and housing the same efficiently by part of theengine structure. The magnet0 structure thus forms art of thefly-wheel,and the weight.

thereo is such that the fly-wheel itself can be made lighter than isordinarily the case.

By incorporating themagneto with the flywheel structure and making thetwo no heavier "than'the-fly-wheel of the ordinary .ype, I am'enabled tosave considerable ma terial, and this forms afurtheradvantage of myinvention. v I

On the drawings, 1 indicates the rim of a flywheel having a disk 2.-This,dis k 2 is mounted upon an engine shaft .3, the said shaft havinga fixed collar 2, which is has tened to the disk 'of the fiy-wheel bymeans of bolts 3. The fly-wheel carries a series of I Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed February 4, .1911.

.c'onductor's are passed.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912. Serial No. 606,511.

permanent magnets 4, which 'areinclosed by the rim of the fly-wheel.These magnets are held in place by means of bolts 5, of nonmagneticmaterial, and spaced a suitable distance fronrthe disk 2 of thefly-wheel by means of a bushing 6, also of nonmagnetic material. Thesemagnets" 4 are ap proximately of horseshoe formand terminate in spacedpole-pieces 7. The magnets are eccent-rically arranged with respect tothe shaft 3, and the pole-pieces- 7 are connected by means ofcounterweights .8, also of non-magnetic material, so that the structureof the magnets may be balanced on the shaft 3, as is required.

The numeral 9 indicates the protruding end of a bearin for the shaft 3,this-bearing projecting rom one side of the crankshaft casing. Thiscasing I do not'deem' it 'necessary to show as the same may be thecasing of a four-cycle engine of almost any type. On this hearing aremounted .two side plates 10, of non-magnetic material, these platesbeing shown 011 Fig. 1 The plates 10 have enlarged ends 10, and areduced central portion between these enlarged ends, giving the plates ashape somewhat like the cross-sectional contour of'the ordinaryshuttle-wound armature that is used in bipolar machines of this type.Between these plates are two armatures 11,- these armat'ures consistingof laminated stampings having cores 11. On these cores the generatingcoils are fixed, there being one set of generating coils for eacharmature, and each set consisting of a primary winding 12 and asecondary winding 13.

The armature structure thusifar described may be arranged on the bearing9 in any suitable or deslred fashion, but I have shown it mounted onthis bearing by means of a plate 14, which has a central hub or flange15, this flange15 supporting both plates 10, which are suitably securedthereto. This plate 14 may be made of magnetic metal, or may be made ofinsulation, and it has apertures 13', through which the secondary Thearmature structure includes two separate circuit breakers, one for eachof the primarycoils 12. These circuit breakers con- 3 sist of pivotedinterrupter levers 16, mounted on pivots 16, which are supported by theend plates 10. These interrupter levers have contacts at their innerendswhich cooperate with fixed contacts 17, and are held 20 is a cam rollercarried by the disk of the fly-wheel 2, so that as the flywheel rotates,the protruding ends of the interrupter levers 16 will be engaged in turnto cause their inner ends to move away from the fixed contacts 17, tobreak the primary circuit. The plate 14 may have hinged doors to giveaccess to the circuit breakers.

As the fly-wheel with the magnets rotates, the circuit breakers willeach be actuated about the instant the armature bearing the particularprimary coil to which the circuit breaker is connected, lies in positionto bridge the pole pieces 7, that is, the position of maximum induction.Each armature will bridge the pole pieces 7 in turn, so as to energizeeach of the secondaries 13 in succession.

To the plate 14 is an arm or lever 21, by means of which the spark istimed to correspond with the engine speed. The armature structure andthe side plates being rig- .idly secured to the plate 14:, and theinterrupters being mounted'upon the plate 10, it is only necessary toshift the plate in order to shift the armature structure itself, andthus vary the points at which the generating coils on the armature comeinto inductive relation with the pole pieces 7 of the magnets.

The connections are shown in detail on Fig. 4. Each of the primarywindings 12 is short-circuited by the interrupter lever 16, and thefixed contact 17, which are bridged by condensers 18. These condensersare not shown in connection with the magneto but they may be arranged inany suitable position thereon, as between the plates 10. The secondarywindings 13 are each connected to a pair of spark plugs P, in the fourcylinders of an engine C. As shown, the members of one pair of sparkplugs P are mounted in the end cylinders of the engine, and the membersof the other pair of spark plugs P are mounted in the intermediatecylinders thereof. The members of each pair are connected in series, sothat they both spark at once. piston of one cylinder is at the end ofits compression stroke there is another cylinder in which the piston isat the end of the exhaust stroke; consequently, when the members of onepair of spark plugs, as shown on Fig. 4, spark together, one spark jumpsin the cylinder in which there is a charge to be ignited, thus causingthe piston in that cylinder to make a working stroke, while the sparkfrom the other member of the said pair of plugs jumps in the cylinder inwhich IVhen the there is no mixture, because the piston has aboutreached the end of its exhaust stroke and is thus ineffective. By meansof the above-described construct-ion, which employs two separatewindings and four igniters arranged in pairs, I am enabled to dispensewith the distributer which is usually employed on ignition magnetos, andI findthat the production of two sparks in series in the mannerdescribed necessitates but little extra prower. The reason is that thespark in the exhaust cylinder consumes but little energy, the greateramount of the energy of the current being expended in the cylinder inwhich there is a mixture under compression.

While I have shown and described my magneto as provided with high andlow.

tension coils and jump-spark-plugs connected to the high tension coils,I wish it to be understood that I may employ low tension coils only, ifdesired, using in connection with the low tension coils, magnetic plugsof any well known or suitable type, or separate transformer coils.

While I have shown and described my magneto as being used in connectionwith a four-cycle engine, I may also use it on an engine of the twocycletype if desired. The slight alterations that would be required to adaptmy system to a two-cycle engine couldbe made by anyone skilled in theart.

By using three armatures I can adapt my magneto to a G-cylinder, l-cycleengine in theabove manner.

I wish to have it understood that, while I have shown and describedmechanical circuit breakers or timers supported by the plates 10, I mayuse magnetic interrupters or timers instead. These magnetic interrupterscan, of course, be actuated by the currents generated in the primarycoils in the usual way.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In an ignition system for gas engines, the combination of afly-wheel, magnets mounted on the face of said fly-wheel and having polepieces connected thereto, the said magnets being eccentrically mountedwith respect to said fly-wheel, counterweights consisting ofnon-magnetic material, connecting said pole pieces and serving tobalance said magnets, and an armature having generating coils thereonsupported adjacent to said fly-wheel to cooperate with said magnets.

2. In an ignition system for gas engines, the combination of afly-wheel, magnets mounted on said fly-wheel and rotatable therewith,said magnets having pole pieces located nearer to the axis of theflywheel than the body of said magnets, counterweights for balancingsaid magnets about the axis of the fly-wheel, and an armature havinggeneratin coils thereon supported adjacent the fly-w eel to cooperatewith said magnets.

3. In an ignition system for internal coman armature core havinggenerating windings thereon located between said plates and supported bythe same, and magnetic means operated by the engine for energizing thearmature coils to generatean electro-motive force therein.

4. In. an ignition system-for internal combustion engines, thecombination of a plate having a central hub or boss projectingtherefrom, a pair of parallel plates mounted upon said boss and spacedfrom each other, an armature core having generating windings thereonlocated between said lates and supported by the same, a circuit reakeror timer mounted between said plates to control the circuit of saidgenerating windings, and magnetic means operated b the engine forenergizing the armature coi s to generate an electro-mot-ive forcetherein.

5. In an i 'tion system for internal combustion engines the -combinationof a plate havin means for mounting the same upon a shalt operated bythe engine, a pair of parallel plates supported by said first-namedplate and spaced from each other, an armature core having generatingwindings thereon located between said parallel lates and supported bythe same, a circuit reaker or timer mounted between said parallel platesto control the circuit of the generating windings, and magnetic meansoperated by the engine for energizing the armature coils to generate anelectro-motive force therein.

6.- In an ignition system for internal combustion engines, thecombination of an adjustable plate having means for mountin the sameupon a shaft operated by sai engine, a pair of parallel plates supportedby said first-named plate and spaced from each other, an armature corehaving generating windings thereon located between said parallel platesand supported by the same, a circuit breaker or timer mounted betweensaid parallel plates to control the circuit of said generating windings,means for adjusting said first-named plate around said shaft,

and magnetic means operated by the engine to energize thearm'ature coilsto generate an electro-motive force therein.

In testimony whereof I'have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALFRED DURBIN.

Witnesses:

JNo. D. Ehwm, CHAS. H. Fours.

